CHAPTER 31
“I
s that it, guys?” Randall sat back against the plush brown sofa and placed his feet on the matching ottoman. Two researchers from his company asked a few more clarifying questions to ensure their directions were clear. He answered them. “All right then, team. I guess that’s it. Thanks again for all your hard work. Dan, keep me posted on our request for special clearance. I want you to call me as soon as that comes in.”
“Will do, boss.”
Randall’s head turned toward the knock on his door. He stood. “Thanks. Listen, I think my wife may have forgotten her key card. I’ll see you guys soon.” He disconnected the call and reached the door just as the person knocked again. “Did you forget your k—” When he saw who stood in the doorway, Randall’s tone and demeanor completely changed. “Jacqueline? What the heck are you doing here?”
Jacqueline pushed by him. “That’s the second time in as many days that you’ve asked that question,” she said lightly, though there was no smile in her voice. She turned and crossed her arms. “I’m beginning to get annoyed.”
“Make that two of us,” Randall said, once the shock of her brazen entry had worn off enough for him to react. “First you grope me down in the lobby and now you show up in my room? Your actions are highly inappropriate, Ms. Tate. I’d like you to leave.”
“Ah. Ms. Tate, is it?” Jacqueline slinked over to where he stood and ran a fingernail down the side of his face.
Randall recoiled.
“I think we’re way past formalities, don’t you?”
“All right, Jacqueline, if you insist. I’ll ask just once more before calling security. What are you doing here? Specifically, why have you come to my room? Wait a minute. How did you even know my floor?”
Instead of answering, Jacqueline walked over to the bar area, opened a Fuji water and poured a glass. “I don’t know what has you acting so . . . weird. Normally you’re laid-back and ready for fun. What’s going on?”
“Laid-back? Ready for fun?” Randall looked behind him to see who she was talking to, convinced it wasn’t him. Then he headed for the door. “Look, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it’s about to be over. You need to leave.” He opened the door. “Now.”
In answer, Jacqueline headed for the bedroom. Randall was right behind her.
“This is an amazing view,” she said, taking in the nearly all-glass walls that offered a 180-degree view of Vegas. She crawled on the bed, unzipped her dress, and exposed her newly-waxed wonder. “But I think this view is better.”
He quickly turned his head away from the sight of her labia. “Have you lost your mind? Zip up your dress! And get the hell out of here! I’m not going to ask again.”
Jacqueline laughed, got up from the bed and did as asked. “Okay, I get it. It’s the middle of the day and you still have meetings. It’s just that we haven’t talked since yesterday in the lobby. I haven’t had the chance to feel those magical lips on mine.”
This statement was met with a blank stare. But his complacency didn’t last long. “That’s it. You’re leaving.” He walked toward the hotel phone.
“Randall, no!” Jacqueline rushed over to keep him from punching the front desk button. “Please. I know Sherri’s here. Which makes what I have to say, and what you need to hear, even more important.”
“You have my cell number,” Randall calmly replied, wrestling the phone away from Jacqueline and placing it back on the receiver. “Leave my room and send me a text.”
“You’ve got to leave her, Randall. I’m in love with you.”
For a moment, time stopped. Jacqueline held her breath, gauging Randall’s reaction. Randall paused to wonder what he’d really just heard.
In love with me?
“Impossible.”
“I know how you feel about me. It’s in your eyes, on your face, every time we’re together.”
Randall scowled.
Jacqueline hurried on, blocking his potential objection. “Yes, it’s crazy. We’ve known each other for such a short time. But you’ve got to know that I consider you more than a friend. ”
“How do you figure? We talked over dinner, you interviewed me a time or two. You’re not a friend, you’re an
acquaintance
who doesn’t know me at all.”
“What about LA?”
“What about it?” Randall asked, his voice growing uncharacteristically loud.
“When we had dinner,” she said, taking one step toward him.
“It was just dinner, Jacqueline; great food, good conversation, nothing more.”
“Until we made love.” She took another step. “There, New York, Chicago . . .”
“That’s it. I don’t need security.” He placed a firm hand on her arm and began walking her to the door. “You’re leaving. Now!”
“No!” She twisted her arm out of his grasp and stepped out of his reach. “I’m not going anywhere. I will
not
be ignored or disrespected just because your wife is in town, and treated as though you haven’t been screwing me from expo to conference, from state to state!”
Randall took a deep breath, his voice low and calm as he responded. “Jacqueline, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who you’re sleeping with. But it’s not me. There is
nothing
going on between us.”
With shopping and lunch over, Renee pulled into the valet area of the Aria hotel. She and Sherri waved away the bell captain and removed Sherri’s shopping bags from Renee’s trunk.
“Are you coming up?” Sherri asked as they entered the hotel. “Or do you want to wait here while I put these away and then hit the casino?”
“No, I want to come with you and use the bathroom.” They crossed the lobby and reached the elevator, Renee taking in every square foot. “I’ll probably not ever be able to stay in a place this nice.”
“I told you what you need to do.” Sherri pressed the button for the elevator.
“What?”
“Stop being a cougar. Find an older man with a genteel nature and a healthy bank account.”
Sherri’s phone rang.
“Sorry, sis, but I don’t see that happening. You know how much I love a bad boy.”
“Hello, Blair,” Sherri said into the phone, holding up a finger to shush Renee. “Have you guys made it home okay?”
The elevator arrived. Renee took a step inside but Sherri stopped her.
I don’t want to drop the call
, she mouthed. Renee nodded and stepped out of the elevator. “Go ahead,” she said to the gentleman holding the door open. “Thanks.”
“That sounds good,” Sherri said. “Call and let the pet sitters know you’re back. They will bring the dogs home.” She looked in the direction that Renee had pointed and shook her head at the young, buff brother her thirty-something friend admired. “Uh-huh,” she said into the phone. “Just make sure the kids do their homework. You guys can order takeout, whatever you want.” She nodded as Blair responded. “Right, the housekeeper comes on Tuesdays. She knows the routine, so just let her in and let her do her thing.” Once again, Sherri pushed the elevator button. “I’ll check in periodically, but call me if you need me. Okay, bye.”
“Wait a minute,” Renee said, as once again the elevator door opened. “I want to check something out real quick.”
“Is
something
young, male, and breathing?” Sherri asked with an expression that suggested that she already knew the answer.
“Don’t judge me,” Renee said, moving in the direction of her interest. “You know I like to shop.”
“Jacqueline, please, I don’t want to argue.” Randall’s denial of intimacy between them had sent Jacqueline into a tirade, and seeing her about to come totally unglued, he quickly decided to try a different tactic. “There’s obviously been a misunderstanding.” A major understatement, but right now he’d say almost anything to get this crazy woman out of his suite. “I’m open to talking to you so that we can work it out. Just not here. And not now.”
“Because Sherri’s here.”
“Yes.”
“Well, isn’t that just cozy. A family affair. It might have been quite nice to meet your children, considering how close I’ve become with their father.”
“Please, Jacqueline. I don’t want any problems.”
“Who are you trying to protect? Me or your wife?”
“My reputation,” he quickly answered, believing that mentioning how much he loved his wife was not the best idea. “A scandal making the news could jeopardize careers for both of us.”
This seemed to get through to her. She nodded subtly. “I guess you’re right. Given what I know, I’d have to agree that now is not the time. But when?”
“When we get back to D.C. I’ll call you. We’ll do lunch.”
She walked over and stood in front of him. “Promise?”
He reached for her arm, more gently this time, and began guiding her toward the door. Reaching it, he opened it tentatively, stuck his head out, and looked the length of the hallway. “Would you mind taking the stairs?” he asked her. “Just a couple floors,” he hurriedly added when a protest seemed imminent. “I don’t want you and Sherri getting into it. At a conference of this magnitude, that type of drama is the last thing I need.” Randall heard the elevator ding. “Go! Please hurry !”
Jacqueline leaned in to kiss him full on the mouth. Randall stepped back, barely avoiding her fiery red lipstick. She covered her anger at the affront with a great big smile. “You’d better call me when you get back to D.C., Randall. Or I’ll be upset. And trust me. You do
not
want to make me unhappy.”
She walked quickly toward the exit sign, looking back for one final wave. She’d barely turned one corner when Sherri and Renee came around another.
Randall turned his head and rubbed a heavy hand across his mouth. He prayed that no lipstick had touched his face.
“Who are you looking for, pizza delivery?” Renee teased as they neared him.
“Who are you looking for?” Sherri asked, no joking in her voice.
“I thought I heard a knock.” Randall was still rattled. “I thought maybe you’d forgotten your card key.” He moved so the ladies could go inside, quickly looking around as he followed them in for any sign that Jacqueline had been there.
A sign other than his still rapidly pounding heart.
Sherri took two steps and stopped dead in her tracks. “Do I smell perfume?”
Renee turned around, sniffing as she retraced her steps. “Hmm, I smell something.”
Sherri turned to her husband. “Randall?”
“Randall, what?” he asked, his hands in that trademark what-the-hell pose. “I don’t smell anything. And I sure as hell don’t wear perfume.”
“Is it me?” Renee walked over and placed her wrist under Sherri’s nose. “Earlier I tried on this, the new one by Versace.”
After a careful look around the room and another one at Randall, Sherri relaxed. “Maybe so.”
“Girl, this suite is amazing! Look at the view!”
Thankfully, Renee’s comment shifted the topic. When Renee went into the bathroom, Sherri answered a text from Aaron. Randall, who was not much of a drinker, walked to the bar, poured a shot, slammed it back, and scrunched his face against the burn.
Once out of the bathroom, Renee joined Sherri who’d walked into the bedroom, leaving a shell-shocked Randall in mental disarray. His mind whirled from the last several minutes.
What the hell just happened?
Accusations of adultery? Jacqueline Tate professing love?
What is going on?
CHAPTER 32
“U
rrggghhhh!” Jacqueline shut the hotel room door and then kicked it for emphasis.
Kris came from around the corner. “What happened?”
“I’m so pissed right now!” Jacqueline exclaimed. She walked over to a table and swept its contents on the floor. “I can’t believe he’s treating me like this!”
“Calm down, Jack.”
“I don’t want to calm down! I feel like hurting somebody.” Her eyes were crazy wild as she looked around her. “If I could get my hands on Sherri right now, I’d—”
“Wait—you saw her?”
“No, but she’s here.”
“Oh, man.” Kris’s concern was evident. ”What did Randall say when you arrived?”
“Asked me what I was doing there, as if he didn’t know. I paid over three hundred dollars for it, but he didn’t even notice my dress!”
“Okay, Jacqueline. I get why you’re upset. But come on, the man’s wife’s here. Granted, you didn’t know for sure, but now that you do, you have to understand why he did what he did.”
“He wants to be with me, Kris. Even now, even with her here. I could feel his desire. I could see it in his eyes!”
“All the more reason why he wouldn’t want to cause a scene right now.” She paused, giving Jacqueline the chance to entertain a different perspective. “If he is in love with you, as you believe, their home life is probably the pits right now. Can you begin to imagine how his wife must feel? They probably aren’t having sex; I doubt he even shows her any affection. She probably threw a tantrum just to come on this trip.”
“He didn’t have to bring her,” Jacqueline countered, but there was less venom in her voice. “He knew I’d be here.”
“He knows what you should remember: that you two have the rest of your lives. He’s a high profile scientist, Jack, who knows how damaging a divorce can be to his public persona and private career. He has to handle everything correctly, has to work out things with his wife just so. He won’t want to do anything to make the proceedings any more acrimonious. He’ll have to shovel out a ton in alimony and child support as it is.”
Jacqueline walked over to the couch and sat, her face scrunched in a frown. “He acted as though we hadn’t been together, like I was crazy and making all of this up.”
“Girlfriend, don’t you get it? He was terrified that his wife would come back to their room and find you there. Denial was his only choice!”
“I guess.”
“Did he say he’d call you later, that you two would talk and he’d explain everything?”
“He wants to have lunch when he gets back to D.C.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do. He was married when you met him, tied down when you two got together. You knew it would be awhile before he could take his love public, maybe even a year or more before he could divorce so the two of you can tie the knot. Patience, chick. That’s what you have to practice right now. Use that, and confidence, knowing that when all is said and done, you’ll be the beautiful bitch with the handsome husband. Leave the role of the nagging, insecure woman to his soon-to-be ex-wife.”
Sherri looked around the room, taking in the warm, soothing ambiance of Sage restaurant in the Aria hotel. She admired the use of browns and bronzes, and the thoughtful use of purples and creams. Spending the day with Renee had been a stark reminder that life was different for those with money, and status was something she’d begun to take for granted. And her incessant paranoia had almost messed things up again. Earlier, upon reentering their suite, she could have sworn she smelled perfume. Her mind had immediately gone to the possibility that Jacqueline had been there. Pure nonsense. For all she knew the woman wasn’t even at this conference. Starting tonight, this moment, Sherri vowed to be more observant of and appreciative for what she had, the life she lived, and the man she’d married. All were huge blessings in her life and she vowed to be more thankful.
“Honey, this setting is beautiful.”
“Hmm . . .”
“Thanks for bringing me here.” She looked up, continuing to admire the chandeliers and columns. “The interior designer tried to talk me into getting a chandelier for our bedroom. I couldn’t see her vision, but now . . . I’m thinking it just might . . . Randall? Randall!”
“Excuse me, baby. What did you say?”
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
“I’m sorry. My mind wandered for a minute.”
“Is it work? Have the meetings gone well?”
“They’ve been enlightening. But I don’t want to talk about work right now.” He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “I want to enjoy the most beautiful woman in the room, the woman who I was lucky enough to persuade to say yes, and become my wife.”
“Ah. . . . that’s sweet, baby. I’m pretty lucky too.”
“You think so?”
Sherri smiled, placing her chin in her hand as her mind traveled to yesteryear. “Remember those early days, baby, right after we got married? That tiny ground floor apartment and the neighbors who screwed nonstop?”
“If they weren’t fucking, they were fighting,” Randall said, his voice low and filled with mischief. “I think they got a kick out of the notion that their antics could be heard.”
“Then I’d see her in the parking lot in her conservative suit and sensible pumps, heading to her job at the courthouse. She was so proud of being a paralegal. I’d give her a look like ‘uh-huh, I heard you,’ and she’d act all innocent and nonchalant.”
“What was her name?”
“Erma. And the man we heard, the one who she eventually married, his name is Wally.”
“How do you know?”
“Ran into her several years later, when I was teaching first grade. She walked into the class with a child who looked just like him. I took one look at the little angel and said, “I guess hard work paid off.”
“Ha!”
The sound of tinkling laughter caused Randall to tense up. He tried to hide his discomfort, but it was written all over his face.
Sherri immediately noticed the change. “Honey, what is it?”
“Nothing.”
A woman passed their table. Randall averted his eyes, causing Sherri to turn around. She glimpsed the back of a tall, slender woman in a sleek print dress, with dark hair piled in a loose ponytail on the top of her head. When she turned back to Randall, he’d visibly relaxed.
Several seconds passed before Sherri spoke. “Do you want me to sit over here and stew all evening, or do you want to tell me exactly what is going on?”
He sighed, reaching over to fiddle with his water glass. He picked it up, took a long swallow, and sighed again. “I don’t want to upset you.”
“Your silence is already pissing me off.” Sherri turned again, searching for the woman. She saw her sitting several tables away; an olive-skinned woman with strong, dramatic features. At first she thought that it might be Jacqueline, but the woman’s face was rounder, her nose more pronounced than the woman who’d previously caused Sherri so much chagrin.
She turned back to Randall once more. To be sure, she asked him, “Is that Jacqueline?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so.” She continued to study her husband. “So why did you act so nervous just now?”
“Honestly, because I thought it was her.”
“Is she here?” He nodded. “But that’s what she does, right? Cover these types of conferences?”
“Yes.” Randall took another sip of water, wishing he had something stronger to drink.
“Then why would seeing her make you upset?”
“Something strange happened today, baby. It was very unnerving. I now want to tell you what I couldn’t share earlier. But please stay calm when I do. Because there is absolutely no truth to what she believes.”
“Who, Jacqueline?”
A pause and then, “She came to the room.” “When?” The frown popped up on Sherri’s face so fast she couldn’t even hide it.
“Earlier today, just before you and Renee returned from shopping.”
“So I was right! I
did
smell perfume . . . and it was hers.”
“Trust me. I was as shocked and angry then as you are now.”
“How’d she know our room number?”
“I don’t know. But she knocked on the door and I thought it was you, thought you’d forgotten your key card.”
Sherri sat back and crossed her arms. The waiter approached. She waved him away and refocused on Randall. “I’m listening.”
“I opened the door and she barged in. I was so shocked that at first . . . I just stood there.Then she started talking crazy and—”
“About what?”
“Long story short . . . she came to the room to tell me that I need to leave you because she’s in love with me.” He waited for a response.
“I’m listening.”
“Sherri, I swear I don’t know where all this is coming from.”
“You had to do something to make her feel that divorcing me was an option.”
Randall shook his head. “Nothing that I haven’t done with other business associates: the interviews, a couple of meetings, dinner—”
“Dinner?”
“Yes, Sherri. She and I had dinner together in LA. But that was it! We shared a meal in a public place, and continued an interview that had begun earlier that day. It was totally innocent, baby. You’ve got to believe that.”
“What I believe,” Sherri said, shaking her head, “is that you have no idea how a woman thinks. Where did you have dinner? McDonalds?”
“No.” Randall’s voice was low, subdued.
“Some kid-friendly buffet?” He shook his head. “I bet it was at an upscale establishment just like this, with a romantic atmosphere and a little privacy to boot. How am I doing?”
“That . . . pretty much describes it.”
“Was it only the one time?”
“Dinner with just the two of us? Yes. But we’ve, you know, shared small talk at other conferences.”
“You’ve seen her in other cities besides LA and D.C.?”
“For the past few weeks, she’s been at every conference. But that’s not unusual. There are several reporters I know on a first name basis.”
“Yes, but did you take them to dinner?”
“That wasn’t wise. I see that now.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” Sherri’s eyes narrowed as she pondered what she’d just learned. “Women don’t just fall in love after sharing a single meal. You had to have flirted, hinted, done something . . .”
“Damn.” Randall ran a weary hand over his face. “We went to a play in New York.” Sherri gave him the kind of look where no words were needed. “She told me that Phillip had planned to join her in Manhattan but had to cancel at the last minute. She had an extra ticket to a play, one where another associate, a young man named Evan, was to join us as well.
“She arrived alone. I asked about Evan and after texting him, she said he couldn’t make it.” Sherri snorted. “And the PSI visit. Because of the cover story on me that she was writing for
Science Today
, I’d thought her seeing the offices was a good idea.”
“I bet she did too.”
“Sherri, I swear to you on my life. I did nothing to make her think I was interested.”
“You never flirted, never teased, never looked at her with those baby-boy eyes?” Randall shifted uncomfortably. “Of course you did.”
She let out a huff and then, taking in the true devastation on her husband’s face, softened her voice. “What did you say when she told you she loved you?”
“Basically, that she was crazy. I assured her that not only had absolutely nothing happened between her and I, but also that you and our children were here, in Vegas! Then I told her to get out of the room before I called security. Before opening the door, baby, I didn’t look to see who was out there. I assumed it was you!” He rested his forehead against his fingers, all appetite gone. “I sure hope she got the message and stays the hell out of my life.”
“That would be the best thing,” Sherri said, calmly picking up her menu and beginning to read. “But don’t count on it.”